Editor’s Letter

In the past three months two themes have come to dominate this issue of “8” Identity and America.  You can see this, for example, in Chris Morris’ depiction of a nation in the midst of  radical change and in Annet van der Voort’s honest portraits of young women coming to terms with their new-found role as mothers.

The photographers’ visual approach to reporting subjects is, no doubt, shaped by their own identities, be they an experienced White House press photographer or a young talent, newly graduated from art school . The characteristic that seems to best define the photographers featured in “8”, and permits us to appreciate the free expression of their views, is the the one attribute that they they have in common: a desire for and a pursuit of independence, whatever the implications.

And so to America. The US is evident in many of our features, both explicitly, in our story about the re-writing of history, 40 years after the civil rights era, and implicitly, in John Vidal’s moving essay which reminds us of the poisoning of Bhopal, where a US multinational continues to commit a heinous crime. We do not intentionally choose a theme for each edition of the magazine, but the photography we print is naturally influenced by the political and economic climate in which we live.

The magazine’s identity is likewise defined by its independence, coupled with the goal to broaden the spectrum of visual debate.

Jon Levy
December 2004